Of dogs and men

Thanks a lot. Really. I now have to sit here rambling out my angst over your dog instead of telling my dear Readers about the epicly amazingly happy weekend I had. So on behalf of me and my Readers, we thank you for your idiocy.

This weekend was my MostAwesome friend’s birthday and as such, I had a great time. When it came to home time the Saturday night, my MostCaring friend piled me into her car for a much-needed girly pow-wow while her beloved boyfriend drove my vehicle home. Legally best that he did so as my alcohol to blood ratio did not allow for operating heavy machinery or my social networking.

Be that as it may, we got home without incident to find the most beautiful German Shepherd just sitting there. The biggest one I’ve ever seen. So amazing, so frightened and so lost.

AND…

So without a collar.

You’re kidding me right? I’m not really an animal person, but having grown up with them (we had 4 dogs and I had a cat and various assortments of fish, so I’m qualified to say this) I know a thing or two. One, you CHECK that your dog is in at night, like a farmer checks that all the cows come home, or a mother checks on her kids. You ensure that your dog is in the house/yard and that the house/yard is locked up. Actually, this isn’t just at night – it’s sort of an all the time requirement.

Two, if you live in a city and choose to have a dog, despite making sure your dog gets enough free-range exercise and you have a big enough lawn in proportion to the size of your dog, etc, PUT A COLLAR ON IT. I know, there’s this tech-chip thing. Whoo-hoo. That still doesn’t help me. And I’m the poor schmuck who has to take care of your dog at 2am because you’re too lazy and careless to do same.

I commend the SPCA, I really think they’re doing the best they can given the time and resources they have, but even so, I am hesitant to call them at 2am about a dog who is quite clearly someone’s dog. I mean, what if he doesn’t have a tech-chip thing? Then the dog goes into the pound and there he sits, hopefully his owners care enough that time round to firstly find him and then collect him. I also feel like it’s wasting their time.

It’s your dog. You choose to have a dog regardless of your work or social schedule. Take care of your dog. It’s as simple as that. I have just seen it happen too many times now in Johannesburg. People buy dogs or cats, but then stay out all hours most weekends and weekdays, or dogs are not properly kept and they run around in the streets. It’s unacceptable. I’m not saying that these people do not love their dogs, just that perhaps they are not responsible and selfless enough to own one. Which concerns me gravely, because most of these dog-having people have bred with other dog-liking people, which means they are responsible for an actual human being. If you can’t even be responsibly enough to take care of a dog… yoh… I’m just saying, you know.

For my curious Readers, the dog was graciously taken in by my neighbours for the night, who have a big lawn (I do not) and they have been canvassing the streets to find the owner – I have not checked in since Sunday afternoon as I’ve been a bit pre-occupied with this and that, but will let you have an update soon, if you want to know…